Kirkman teases new 'Walking Dead' season

Warning: This article contains spoilers that some readers may prefer to avoid. Please click here if you wish to continue.

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has confirmed more details about the upcoming second season.

He told Give Me My Remote that the new run will introduce more characters from the original comic, including farm-owner Hershel and his daughter Maggie.

"We're definitely going to Hershel's farm, and anyone who's familiar with the graphic novels is going to know that there are a lot of characters that come with that," he said. "We're going to see Hershel's daughter Maggie and we'll possibly see a little bit of romance for Steven Yeun's character Glenn, so that's going to be pretty exciting."

The writer added that future episodes will continue "ramping up everything that we did in the first season".

"We had six episodes on the first season, now we have 13," he explained. "We can kind of let things breathe and get to know the characters a little bit better. I think the second season is going to blow the first season out of the water."

Kirkman also dismissed the suggestion that the television show has strayed too far from the original comic.

He argued: "There's always a good reason for [the changes] and usually the ideas are great, so I'm very open to the twists and turns that come about and how it enriches what we have."

The Walking Dead will return to AMC in the US and FX in the UK in late 2011.